335: Chapter 335 Huh?

Within a short ten minutes, Old Mo acted like a crazy scammer selling health supplements, pulling out all sorts of bizarre props in various ways.

Chen You stood where he was, watching the pile of "top-grade materials" grow higher and higher at his feet. His heart was calm, and he even felt a bit like laughing.

To him, this amount of money wasn't even a drop in the bucket.

He wanted to see just how many tricks this cross-eyed old man could pull out today.

"Anything else?" Chen You asked calmly.

Old Mo wiped the sweat from his forehead, panting, "For now... that's all for now."

"As long as you arrange these materials according to the positions of the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams, this egg will definitely hatch!"

Chen You nodded.

He didn't reach for those materials, but instead opened his system inventory directly.

Clatter, clatter, clatter.

A pile of gold coins, shimmering with an enchanting luster, poured out.

Old Mo's breathing stopped instantly.

His pair of cross-eyes actually separated miraculously at this moment, staring fixedly at the gold coins on the ground, his Adam's apple rolling violently up and down.

"Old Mo." Chen You looked down at him, his voice devoid of emotion, "I hate trouble the most."

"Pulling things out one by one like this is too slow."

"Bring out everything you've tucked away at the bottom of your chest, everything that can make this thing hatch immediately, all at once."

"Money is not an issue."

Combined with the visual impact of the piled-up gold coins on the ground, this sentence completely shattered Old Mo's psychological defenses.

Old Mo trembled all over, and the way he looked at Chen You changed completely.

This wasn't some Qi Refining stage Cultivator; this was clearly a walking God of Wealth, a living Bodhisattva sent by the Heavenly Dao to save him from poverty!

"Sir! Please wait a moment!"

Old Mo scrambled and crawled toward that abandoned pond.

He fumbled around a stone slab at the edge of the pond and pressed a hidden mechanism.

Rumble.

A crack opened at the bottom of the pond, and a crystal pedestal emitting a seven-colored divine light slowly rose.

The pedestal was covered in ancient runes of extreme complexity, and an incredibly pure aura of life rushed toward them.

A system notification sounded in Chen You's mind:

[Discovered mythological-grade wonder building (Damaged): cradle of life]

[Effect: Ignores all conditions to forcibly catalyze and hatch any oviparous/viviparous/energy-based lifeform.]

Chen You was stunned.

This wretched, cross-eyed old man actually hid an item of this level?

Old Mo carefully picked up the grayish-white egg and placed it in the center of the crystal pedestal.

"Sir, this 'cradle of life' is a divine object left over from ancient times. Every time it's activated, it consumes a massive amount of energy."

Old Mo rubbed his hands together with a flattering look, "Regarding the startup funds..."

"Is a hundred thousand enough?" Chen You pointed to the gold coins on the ground.

Foundation Establishment was of the utmost importance; never mind a hundred thousand gold coins.

Even if it were a million gold coins, he believed Director Li and the others would only worry that he was paying too slowly.

"Enough! More than enough!"

Old Mo pulled out a dagger from somewhere and slashed his wrist.

Dark red blood dripped onto the crystal pedestal, and those complex runes were instantly lit up.

Seven-colored divine light soared into the sky, illuminating the corner of West Gate Plaza like broad daylight.

The grayish-white egg was bathed in the divine light, and the grime on its surface began to peel off layer by layer.

Mysterious dark purple patterns emerged on the previously lifeless eggshell.

These patterns pulsed like breathing, and a heart-palpitating pressure faintly emanated from inside the shell.

Crack! Crack!

The crisp sound of shattering echoed through the empty West Gate Plaza.

Chen You stood three steps away, his right hand unconsciously resting on the hilt of the yuhuang sword.

This pressure was staggering.

It was the power of laws that truly belonged to the Underworld, to the Yellow Springs.

"It's, it's, it's coming out!" Old Mo was shaking with excitement, his cross-eyes fixed on the pedestal, a strand of crystal-clear drool even leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Life essence smashed out by a hundred thousand gold coins! I've guarded this broken pedestal for three thousand years, and I've finally seen some return... bah, I've finally seen a miracle!"

Boom!

Accompanied by a final deafening roar, the entire 'cradle of life' pedestal suddenly dimmed.

All the seven-colored divine light was swallowed up in an instant by the creature inside the eggshell.

Immediately after, a visible black airwave exploded outward from the center of the eggshell.

The remaining stone pillars around West Gate Plaza collapsed one after another under the impact of this airwave, and the bluestones on the ground shattered inch by inch.

Chen You propped up a spiritual power shield to block the oncoming flying sand and stones, his gaze locked firmly on the center of the airwave.

Black mist rolled, and purple lightning slithered through the mist like spirit snakes.

Vaguely, a silhouette slowly emerged within the black mist.

Chen You held his breath.

The silhouette wasn't large, but it carried an indescribable sense of eeriness.

It seemed to have a rounded body, short limbs, and a... flat beak?

"Could it be the legendary Heaven-Swallowing Nether Beast? Or the Nine Nether Profound Turtle?"

Images of ancient ferocious beasts recorded in countless cultivation classics flashed through Chen You's mind.

For this thing, he had paid a solid hundred thousand gold coins, which converted to a hundred billion huaxia coins!

Something hatched with a hundred billion—even if it were a pig, it would have to be a Marshal Tianpeng capable of toppling the Southern Heaven Gate!

Whoosh—

A gust of yin wind blew past, completely dispersing the black mist shrouding the pedestal.

Chen You's eyes widened slightly.

Old Mo's breathing stopped abruptly.

In the center of the shattered eggshell, on that mythological-grade pedestal that had exhausted the energy of a hundred thousand gold coins, there sat a creature.

It was covered in bright yellow, fluffy down.

It had a pair of eyes the size of black beans, filled with a clear foolishness.

It had a flat, orange beak.

Its wings weren't even fully grown, with only two small bits of flesh pressed against its sides.

At this moment, it tilted its head, using those black-bean eyes to look at the dumbfounded Old Mo, and then at the expressionless Chen You.

Then, it opened its flat orange beak.

"Quack?"

A crisp, loud, and very mundane duck call echoed across the empty plaza.

Chen You: "..."

Old Mo: "..."

A cold wind blew past, swirling a few fallen leaves.

The corner of Chen You's mouth twitched very slowly.

He slowly turned his head and looked at Old Mo, who was still holding the pose of raising his hands to cheer, "Old Mo."

"Yes, yes! Sir, at your service." Old Mo gave a start, his legs going weak as he knelt directly on the ground.

"I haven't had much schooling, so don't lie to me." Chen You pointed at the little yellow duck on the pedestal that was currently scratching an itch with its webbed foot.

"This is what you called the Netherworld Guide Beast, born at the intersection of life and death, able to penetrate the mists of the River Styx and lead me to the Water of the Yellow Springs?"

"Quack quack." The little yellow duck called twice more, taking wobbly steps.

It stepped into thin air and tumbled off the crystal pedestal, rolling until it reached Chen You's feet.

It shook its head and pecked at Chen You's combat boots with its flat beak.

Old Mo swallowed hard, the cold sweat on his forehead pouring down like a waterfall.

His cross-eyes spun wildly, his brain exploding with an unprecedented speed of calculation at this moment.

"Sir! Let me explain!" Old Mo suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Chen You's leg.

"This is called returning to one's true self! The Great Dao is simple!"